2025 Open Enrollment Dates and Information

July 14, 2025
Circular Letter: 600-035-25
Topic: Health Benefits

To: All CalPERS Health Benefits Officers and Assistant Health Benefits Officers

Purpose

The purpose of this Circular Letter is to inform you of important dates for 2025 Open Enrollment as well as upcoming Open Enrollment events and information. This Circular Letter also explains how to sign up for Employer Bulletins to stay informed of California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) news and events.

2025 Open Enrollment Dates

The following are key dates:

  • Your employees’ Health Plan Statements will be available in their myCalPERS accounts on September 8, 2025. This personalized statement provides an overview of their health premiums for 2025 and 2026 if they don’t change plans or dependents.
  • Open Enrollment is September 15–October 10, 2025. During this time, your employees can enroll, change health plans, add eligible dependents, remove dependents, or cancel coverage. Your employees are responsible for providing you with any necessary documentation to determine their dependents' eligibility for health coverage.
  • The deadline for processing all Open Enrollment transactions is 11:59 p.m. PT on Friday, November 7, 2025. Changes made during Open Enrollment take effect on January 1, 2026.

Employer Bulletins

For the most up-to-date information about CalPERS news and 2025 Open Enrollment, encourage others at your agency to subscribe to Employer Bulletins.

Open Enrollment for Employers Webpage

Prior to Open Enrollment, the Open Enrollment for Employers page will be updated with information regarding:

  • How you can partner with CalPERS health plans for virtual and in-person Open Enrollment health fairs (September 2–October 10).
  • Registration details for the Open Enrollment Employer Webinar we’re hosting on September 4 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., where we’ll share 2026 health plan changes, highlight key employer resources, and provide answers to frequently asked questions.

  • Annual health plan changes, behavioral health and wellness programs, and other important health information and resources.

Member Communications

Later this month, we’ll email members to notify them of the 2026 health plan and benefit design changes. In August, we’ll send letters to members impacted by premium increases of 9% or higher and include a summary of the 2026 health plan changes. An overview and samples of the letters will be shared on the Open Enrollment for Employers page. Then, on September 10 at 11:00 a.m., we’ll host the Open Enrollment Member Webinar to walk members through plan updates, key dates, and helpful resources. Save the date and encourage your employees to tune in. We’ll send additional details in the coming weeks.

Online Health Enrollment

With your approval, eligible active employees can make many health enrollment changes online through their myCalPERS account.

During the annual Open Enrollment period, both eligible active and retired members can enroll in health benefits for themselves and their eligible dependents or submit changes online. When an employee changes their health plan online, no action is required within myCalPERS by human resources departments. However, certain transactions — such as new enrollments, adding a dependent, and removing a dependent (delete dependent transactions) — will still require employer review of eligibility and documentation. Employers will receive electronic notification and can monitor transactions using on-demand Cognos reports.

To support you, we have two brief, engaging videos:

  1. Employer Cognos Video: Shows employers how to find and run Cognos reports.
  2. Employer Online Health Enrollment Video: Step-by-step instructions on identifying and processing online health enrollments. The video covers how to:
    • Find health enrollments
    • Review associated documents
    • Confirm enrollment requests
    • Reject enrollments with appropriate reasoning

Learn more by visiting Online Health Enrollment for Active Employees.

Help Us Serve Our Members Better

Encourage your employees to create their Health Demographic Profile in myCalPERS. It takes less than two minutes to complete and is confidential and secure. Their responses will help us better understand our members and improve the quality of care and health outcomes for all.

Questions

If you have questions, call our CalPERS Customer Contact Center at 888 CalPERS (or 888-225-7377888-225-7377).

 

Yesenia Croft, Chief
Health Account Management Division